The Bluff of The Golden Lord
by arconnect
Summary: Through trickery Ronove has stolen the title of 'Golden/Endless' from Beatrice, now he has taken up the mantle as Battler's opponent and has crafted his own Game as well.


Kinzo Ushiromiya looked out upon the stormy sky cascading before him. Behind him, his friend of many years, Terumasa Nanjo, stood, his face bleak with a silent pain and concern for his long time companion. They were alone in Kinzo's study, save for a face that Kinzo had not seen for many, many years. Nanjo did not recognize the man, but his friend seemed to be content with speaking politely to him, so Nanjo, on the few instances that night where they were forced to speak, held back his concern from his voice and responded in quick, polite replies.

" So. " Kinzo grumbled, his wrinkled, old face scrunching up under the stress this decision had caused him," She's gone? And you've taken up the contract? " His finger nails slowly ground into the wood of the window sill. He could not believe Beatrice was gone. She was supposed to be immortal, and all these years his work in the dark arts had been directed toward seeing her face once more, now he found that not only was she gone, but his contract had been inherited by a previous servant of the Witch. It was not fair, life had been cruel to him.

" Yes," spoke the man, his brown hair hanging long over the sides of his face, slightly obscuring a monocle that he never seemed to remove. " When Beatrice-sama passed, it was... hard for me, but I believe it just to see this agreement through to the end on her behalf, she would've wished it." The man's voice stayed mildly pleasant, but hinted at cold, cruel interior. Something was obvious, the death of Beatrice had not worried this man a single bit, and he was very used to lying.

" Fine then," Kinzo said. It had been many years since this agreement had been forged, and Beatrice or no Beatrice, he would not allow what he had worked so hard for be taken away from him. He slipped the golden ring he wore off of his finger, the dark wing imprinted on the gold flared brightly as a bolt of lightning filled the sky behind them, then, without delay, he tossed it through the air to the man, who simply opened up his palm, and, oddly enough it landed dead center, without even having to adjust. " You are my opponent, Ronove-san! Let the game begin! "

Nanjo frowned and looked down toward the floor as a large streak of gold and white once more flew through the sky, briefly capturing the image of the calm Ronove looking at a slightly deranged, empowered Kinzo. He did not like knowing that his friend would die, but nothing he could do could stop such an impending doom for all of them, it was fate.

***

The sun burned high in the sky, not a cloud in sight as Battler Ushiromiya stepped out off of the boat onto the dock of his Grandfather's island with his family. The salt in the air mixed gracefully with the warm air and swirled into a decadent that could only be described with one word, Summer. This was a wonderful time of year, and being able to see the rest of his family after six years was a welcomed break from the usual. After settling onto solid ground for the first time in over an hour, he looked back to see his father and his wife depart from the boat as well, hustled along by a half-dozen or so other family members.

His father, Rudolph Ushiromiya, was good looking for his age, which you could almost measure by the amount of women he'd been married too. His first wife was Battler's mother, followed by the woman who bore him Battler's half-sister Ange, and followed finally by the woman standing next to him now, Kyrie Ushiromiya. Kyrie's neck-length, pale-white hair and strong face contrasted nicely with Rudolph's relatively short brown hair and relaxed, amused face. Battler, who for a long time had not lived consistently with his father, had grown almost evenly close to the two of them, his father listened well to him and Kyrie had taught him many different ways of viewing the world that Battler would have been dead to had he never met her.

Rudolph had entered conversation with two of his siblings, Rosa and Eva Ushiromiya, as well as with Eva's husband, Hideyoshi, on the boat, Kyrie listening intently but never saying much, on the boat, and this action seemed to have carried over after exiting it. The five of them continued into light-hearted tones as they began the trek toward the mansion that occupied the middle of the island, the home of Battler's grandfather, Kinzo. They left the transferral of the small amount of luggage that they'd bothered to bring with them to the 3 servants that had been waiting for them, Toshiro Gohda, a large man with a simple face who seemed to carry himself like some sort of boxer, he stood a good couple of inches higher than anyone in Battler's family or the other servants, as well as Shannon and Kanon, a brother and sister who had worked on this island since they were six, who both had pale face that might be construed as cute as well as large, bright, blue eyes. Battler's cousin, George had also pitched in to help. He stood at level with Battler and was couple of years older, with dark hair that hung straight down, making it almost completely opposite to Battler's own bright, red hair which had a tendency to stick several different directions at one time.

Kanon, remaining non-descript, headed off with Gohda with two briefcases after the five adults, seeming almost enthused by the idea of getting away from George and his sister. George, after having thrown a quick overhead wave at Battler, had stuck like a strong adhesive to a conversation he was having with Shannon and insisted on carrying four suitcases like one would carry a box, hoping to save Shannon the effort, this left Battler alone on the beach. Well, not alone exactly, because when he began to walk away, toward the mansion with the rest of his family, he felt a tug on the cuff of his jacket.  
"Uuu, Uuu!" came a voice from next to Battler, which startled him almost causing him to trip sideways as he flinched. Next to him stood the last relative that had traversed over on the boat with him, Maria Ushiromiya, a small 9 year old who was only tall enough to come up to Battler's waist. To Battler, it seemed probable that she did not remember him from their last meeting six years ago. " Battler! Can you carry me?" Her voice came out childish and care-free.

"Sure," Battler said, as he hoisted the child up, allowing her to put one arm around his neck to keep her steady. He did not mind playing with the little girl, she was only a kid. " Why aren't you with your mother?" he asked as he began walking down the earthen road leading upward toward the center of the island. It only took a few second before her weight actually started to slow him down, but for the heck of it, he hastened his pace so as to appear unbothered by the load.

"She told me to go up to the mansion with you and George..." she said, a sullen look filling her face as she looked down at the ground beneath them." She's always so busy, I shouldn't have interrupted her talk with the other grown-ups." The dreary look disappeared from her face in an astonishing instance as the sound began coming back with even more energy than before." George was busy with the big-chested lady, but I knew you would play with me, Battler!" she said, a wide smile stretching across her face. Battler responded with a small grin, he couldn't remember if Rosa had even once talked to her child on the boat, had she been alone the entire time? She continued to ride on his shoulder until they reached the tree line, where she asked to get down, she was a big girl after all. " Hey, Battler." She said, breaking the silence that had been held for the last two or three minutes due to Maria's curiosity with the surrounding foliage. " Do you believe in magic? "

" Heh." Battler half laughed at the question. His belief in the supernatural was as blank as pure snow, but he knew it would spoil the little girl's mood if he shot her down over something so trivial as wanting to wish on stars or believe in the tooth fairy. " Sure, why not."

" Uuu! Battler believes too!" She said, once again smiling up at her cousin," Momma says there isn't such a thing, but because Battler and Kinzo both believe, it must be true!" She continued along, humming a song to herself, content with her own imagination as they continued walking, until they reached the Rose garden. Then she began to wander about it, staring at all the flowers, when a voice from the stone entryway of the mansion called out.

" Hey Battler, hurry up!" came the scream of one Jessica Ushiromiya, Battler's third and last cousin, and daughter of Krauss Ushiromiya, the eldest son of Kinzo. Battler quickly took a step forward, wanting to speak for the first after six years, but stopped himself short as he looked back at Maria, who was still looking around at the Rose Garden. " Comeon, you have to talk to the rest of the family! " came Jessica's voice from behind Battler, obviously impatient at having to wait for the last two of them to finally arrive.

" One second! " Battler called back to Jessica before turning his attention back to Maria, who was enamored by the flowers even still. " Hey Maria, don't you want to go inside? Your mom probably wants you to stay with us." He made a ' right this way ' motion with his hands toward the entrance to the mansion and Jessica, who had taken up crossed arms and irritated foot-tapping. A nervous grin from Battler obviously showed that he was afraid of getting on Jessica's bad side so early on, despite her being a year younger than him.

" Its ok, you go ahead, Momma won't mind." Maria replied, not taking her eye off of a particular rose she'd honed in on, moving her head around it to seemingly analyze it for the proper attributes from all sides. She seemed to be unwilling to leave the flower and after a moment it became apparent that she might have forgotten about Battler's presence all together, every few seconds she would switch flowers, as if searching for the correct one.

After a few more awkward moments, Battler sighed and turned around to walk inside the mansion, Jessica having already given up and gone inside herself. He looked back only once before entering the large doors, and he only saw Maria tying a pink ribbon she had pulled out of her pocket around a rose in the left column. He shook his head and produced a small grin, it was almost scared him that he had once been that age, and at one time had that same care-free aura about him.

The rest of afternoon leading up until dinner had gone as expected. Maria had eventually come in from outside and, luckily, her mother had taken her hand and walked with her as she chatted with the rest of the family. Obviously enough, Kinzo didn't make an entrance, and from the talking Battler had spent with Natsuhi Ushiromiya, Jessica's mother and Krauss' wife, he wasn't expected to make an appearance at dinner either. As he'd wanted, Battler had gotten the chance to speak to both Jessica, who by this time had cooled down from her near-tantrum earlier, and George. Conversation mostly surrounded common subjects, for the cousins, school, and between the adults, various business enterprises they'd each taken up in. Nanjo, a doctor and friend to his grandfather that Battler could partially remember from six years ago, eventually joined the fray in time for the six adults to meander off into the tea-room to speak of, what everyone suspected was, the inheritance that would soon be given out by the physically-ill Kinzo. This left George, Jessica, Battler, Shannon, and a sleeping Maria waiting in the front hall until Kanon emerged from the kitchen and announced dinner had been prepared.

To the dismay of the 4 youngest of the family, dinner passed in relative silence. The only conversation going on happened between Krauss and Genji Ronoue, the head butler. It wasn't sneaky whispering, Krauss, who usually acted as manager-so-to-speak of the mansion had asked for whether dinner had been successfully delivered to his father. Other than this, each of the people at the table mostly kept to their children, spouses, or parents, with not many words passing between the four groups. This wasn't actually a terrible thing, because Gohda, who had only recently been hired as a servant to the Ushiromiya household, was a certified gourmet chef, and despite what stress might have been held between the adult siblings, they could all revel in the wonderful dining provided for them.

" Rudolph-san? " Maria said as dessert was being passed out, breaking the norm that had been set over the past hour. She tugged at the man's sleeve, she sitting next to him and her mother. " Is dinner over now?" This question came out innocently enough, but drew a stern look from her mother, who was afraid her child would embarrass her, thinking she was just acting like an impatient brat. This didn't bother Maria, she wasn't looking away from Rudolph anyway.

" Umm ." Rudolph began to reply, the question was a little out of the blue and unexpected, and combined with the look he saw emanating from his sister, Rosa, resulted in a touch of confusion that seemed to meld with his normally happy demeanor, resulting in a light frown. " I suppose so, yes." He finally said, looking back and forth between Rosa and Maria, wondering why the child had asked.

" Uuu! " Maria said, looking delighted as she pulled her pink, plastic purse into her lap and removed from it a clean envelope imprinted with the seal of the family headship imprinted in wax. She then announced to the rest of the room, drawing others away from their small conversations and for the first time during dinner focusing everyone on a single point.

Rudolph and Rosa, at the same time, loudly gasped at seeing the letter, and more particularly, the seal bearing the Ushiromiya wing. " Maria-san, where did you get that!" Rudolph said in a loud, surprised voice. " Did Kinzo-sama give that to you?" By this time, everyone's attention had become focused on Maria, including the servants. Shanon and Kanon both ceased handing out dessert, Gohda stopped picking up dishes, and both Genji and Chiyo Kumasawa, the last servant, and older woman who had worked for Kinzo for almost as long as Genji, came into the dining room from the kitchen, startled by the sudden silence and Rudolph's out of place exclamation.

" No, of course not! Uuu" Maria said, a large smile on her face as she looked up to answer Rudolph. " Ronove-sama sent someone to give it to me while I was in the garden!" Rudolph was about to encourage Maria to elaborate who this someone was when the little girl deliberately cleared her throat, turned her head from side to side, pervading the room, she then looked down as she broke the seal on the letter and began reading from the paper she withdrew from it, a wicked, insane smile stretching from jaw to jaw as her eyes widened in a sort of omni-fixed obsession, " Welcome to Rokkenjima, Beloved Trespassers. I have inherited the position of alchemist-adviser of this house and my name is Ronove. I previously served Beatrice, who was obeying a contract that extended for many years, but earlier today, I announced my desire to end that contract.

"Consequently, during today, I'll see my current position as alchemist-adviser of the household come to an end, so accept that. Then, I must explain a portion of the contract to all here. I, Ronove, now own the vast amount of gold that was lent to Kinzo-san by Beatrice-sama, but there is a condition attached."

" That condition states that all of the gold will be returned to me as of the end of the contract, and in interest, I will also receive the Ushiromiya family in totality. Please fret at the coming of this consequence I inherited from Beatrice-sama. However, a small clause was input for the family's sake that states that if anyone solves the riddle of my epitaph, they will receive not only my vast wealth of gold, but the Ushiromiya family as well.

My Epitaph, in concern of the steps taken, is as follows.

My beloved kingdom, the bountiful river running through it. You who seek the Golden Land, follow it's path downstream and seek the key. If you follow the river downstream, you will find a village. In the village, look for the shore the two will tell you of. There sleeps the key to the Golden Land.

He who must lay his hand upon my key will travel under the rules below.

At the first twilight, you shall lift up as sacrifice the six chosen by my key.

At the second twilight, the surviving shall tear apart the two who are close.

At the third twilight, the surviving shall lose hope and fear my name.

At the fourth twilight, gouge the head and kill.

At the fifth twilight, gouge the chest and kill.

At the sixth twilight, gouge the belly and kill.

At the seventh twilight, gouge the knee and kill.

At the eighth twilight, gouge the leg and kill.

At the ninth twilight, the I shall live at last and none shall be left to live.

At the tenth twilight, the journey shall end and you should reach My Land of Gold.

I will pity those fools, and shall relieve four gifts.

One shall be, all the gold from the Golden Land.

One shall be, the resurrection of a soul from amongst the dead.

One shall be, even the resurrection of the lost love.

One shall be, to bring me to my end for all time.

Wish peace upon your patron, Ronove."

The sudden abrasiveness found in Maria's voice got the attention of everyone in the room, family and adults; however, they were more focused on the spectacle of a little girl pulling out a family seal bound letter and suddenly speaking out like a madman. " Maria-chan..." Rudolph said, the cat metaphorically having caught his tongue, as he returned to his original question, trying to phrase it so that Maria would give him the answer he needed," Who did Ronove send to give you that letter?..."

Maria, her original childish glee returning to her face even after delivering such harsh a revelation, yawned, her eyes drooping a tad to much to appear to be natural sleepiness and within a quick moment her head followed suit, tilting oddly to the left side as she replied, no longer looking at anything in particular, content to stare into space," Oh, he sent..." She yawned again, her arms barely lifting in place as if all the energy in her body had suddenly vanished, her shoulders rocking side to side slowly as she managed to utter the word "..was..." before toppling over into her mothers lap and then onto the ground, her body gone limp and her eyes closed.

" Maria!" Rosa said, her voice hesitantly filled with fright, as if wondering whether her daughter was hurt or just playing one of her games. Rosa stared blankly at her daughter's unmoving form for a brief second, her eyes growing wide with terror and realization," MARIA!" she screamed once more, dropping to her knees on the ground beside the dinner table, lightly shaking her daughter's shoulders as she repeatedly shouted her name. Dr. Nanjo soon rushed over, getting on his knees opposite from Rosa as he checked the little girl despite her mother's rapidly enlarging shaking.

As he lightly tapped various parts of Maria's face and neck, his eyes squinting with a growing concern. He took a deep breath, as if trying to keep his head cool amongst the loud talking that had erupted in the room. His head shot around to the doorway to the kitchen, his voice moving along with his neck," Gohda! Get the first aid kit at ..." His voice stopped short as his face finally found Gohda amongst the now standing adults. He was in the corner, near the door to the kitchen, but behind Genji and Chiyo who had entered the room when Maria began to read.

Except he was already on the ground, laying on his left shoulder behind three or four people who were to enamored by Maria's falling to see that Gohda himself was now on the ground, his head slightly tilted upward as if he'd fallen toward the wall it'd dragged against the wall on the way down. His face tilted a forty five degree angle from his collar, his eyes open and slightly glazed, his tongue almost drooping out of his mouth. " Gohda! " Nanjo shouted as the rest of the room, save Rosa, looked toward the kitchen door just to see yet another person fallen limply to the ground, Genji, who had fallen to the ground like a corpse in front of Nanjo as he'd made his way to Gohda's unmoving form. This scared the doctor, and he flinched back, just to feel it as Chiyo also fell to the ground, her head knocking against a chair on the way down.

Kanon, eyes wide, dropped the platter containing the desserts to the ground as his head shot toward his sister, suddenly recognizing some kind of on-the-move pattern taking place. " Shannon, be careful, the servants!..." But he stopped his sentence short, as he'd turned around just in time to see his sister, too, wobbling around on her feet, her eyes wide but glossed over, her breathing light. The rest of her face was devoid of features, like she'd fell into some kind of vegetative state, but was still standing.

" ... Kan...on..." She managed to breath out before her wobbling eventually unbalanced her, sending onto her side, lifelessly limp, the same as the other. In some form of corrupt dark-comedy, her face splattered against one of the dropped desserts she'd been handing out only moments ago. No sooner than she'd fallen, did George rush to her side, reaching for, but just falling short of catching her in the air.

He found himself at her side, shaking her unresponsive body the same way Rosa had been doing, this went on for about a second before some kind of realization went through his head, causing him to look up just in time to see Kanon, his body somewhat frozen in place, with an arm outstretched toward Shannon as it had been when she'd begun to fall, but now his hand was limp and his shoulder starting to laze down. His body shivered, as if his will had not been taken from him despite his body and eyes taken on a lifeless pallor. He grunted once before falling forward, his torso hitting the table and dragging to the floor with him bits of food left, some cake, a salt cup, and a glass of champagne.

The sound of a glass and plate breaking on the floor near Kanon's unmoving body was the last in the room for the next minute or so, save for Rosa's crying as she remained unmoving above her daughter. This anticipation after such an exciting upheaval left everyone simply standing in place, able to hear one another's breathing, as Nanjo made a lap around the dining room, checking the neck of every one of the fallen men and women. When he finally spoke, it brought with it a rush of terror that they'd all suspected had been the case since Rosa had began shaking Maria." I'm sorry people, they're... they're all dead." Nanjo's old voice came out raspy as if he couldn't believe the words he was saying. After a few more moments of silence, George's tears also joined Rosa's, with the rest of the room simply listening on in silence.

After about half an hour, Krauss, who had enlisted his brother and Eva, had managed to both convince everyone in the room that they should not modify the scene by moving the bodies and remove George and Rosa from Shannon and Maria's respective sides. Once he got all 11 of them into the front hall he announced," Ok, we're going to call the police, but the storm that has risen up over the last couple of hours is blocking our calls. The phones within the house seem to be able to still reach each other. Natsuhi called and told Kinzo-sama, but he seems to want to remain in his room and he told us to just wait for the storm to blow out. He..." He said, his voice dropping as he took a moment to scan the faces, before continuing on what, had there not just been a predicted six deaths, would have seemed silly to him," seemed to be moderately unconcerned or surprised as to the announcement Maria had made. For now I think its best that we all just stay calm, stay in groups, and try to get some sleep. Panicking won't bring back the dead." His face settled into a frown as he brought his brief speech to a close, he wasn't comfortable being the one to give out information after such an extraordinary event.

With that, the excitement seemed to settle into a harsh sort of wariness as everyone seemed to carefully head off toward their room. With the exception of George and Rosa, they all tried to appear unbothered by what had happened, but you couldn't turn around once without seeing someone checking over their shoulder, making sure there really wasn't a boogey man prepared to kill them should they let their guard down. George, though shaken, insisted on heading to his by himself, Natsuhi walked Rosa to her room.

Rudolph, more stressed out over worrying about his sister than the deaths themselves, entered his bedroom with Kyrie. He sighed and sat down on the side of the bed, taking a small, palm-sized music box from his pocket and placing it on intable next to the bed. He thought over when Eva had given it to him years ago as a bribe to keep from informing Kinzo that she'd snuck off the island without permission. The lid popped open as he pressed the switch on its side and a soft medley reminiscent of twinkle-twinkle little star began to play. He sighed, and for the first time since dinner, his frown lifted as a few of the humorous memories he'd shared with his siblings as children floated through his mind, but eventually settled down as the image of the lifeless body of Maria, who had died only feet away, freshly seeped into his conscious.

"There was nothing anyone could do," Kyrie said, changing on the other side of the bed into the clothes provided by the servants pre-mortem for sleep, as Rudolph too began to strip himself of his suit," It all happened so fast." The voice she gave off was not one of a consoling nurse or mother, but simple, luke-warm words of brick-wall fact. That was one thing Rudolph had married her for, no matter what, she seemed to always stay calm, which in term helped his psyche immensely. " Also, you have to take into account if this is some kind of attempt to follow the epitaph, that fear is what the criminal is trying to truly attack us with. You're doing what he wants by getting so worked up about it." Rudolph did not hear her as she moved softly over the bed and began rubbing his shoulders. He remained silent, no words needed to be said, his son was alright and as long as he had her near him, he felt he would everything else would be as well, words could not convey such a message. He reached over his shoulder and held her hand for a few brief moments, as the wooden clock above him once again koo-koo'd and the music box continued to spin its song.

With the servants permanently out of commission, it took much longer for someone to realize that Kyrie and Rudolph were missing in action the next morning. It was already nine, when Battler, having already managed to take a bath, eat, and sleep in, started wondering exactly where his father and step-mother were. He approached the door and yelled," Hey, Dad, get up already!" He laughed at it, tried the door once, finding it locked, and just proceeded to wait, until, patience waning, he yelled again." Comeon, open up!" They had to be in there, no one else had seen them, and there weren't that many places they would go in the mansion. Well, over the following minutes, yelling leads to loud yelling, which lead to banging on the door and yanking on the handle, which lead to a ruckus that finally brought a crowd. Krauss, Natsuhi, and Nanjo found Battler in the hall with his foot against the door, attempting to open it.

" Are they even in there?" Krauss said, slightly put off by the spectacle of a young man trying to break down a door that he obviously did not have the build to be able.

" They have to be, no one has seen them all morning." Natsuhi replied, and in the same moment, frowns appeared on both their faces, suspicion taking hold. " It couldn't be..." Krauss, already moving, did not give Natsuhi the chance to finish the sentence. He did not want to have another incident like the night before on his hands, and refused to believe that anything weird had happened. And so to prove this point, he nudged Battler out of the way, retrieving a small key from his pocket, and unlocking the door.

The door broke slightly near the base of the lock, but the rest of it seemed content to simply swing back on the hinges. This left both Krauss and Battler standing in the doorway at the spectacle inside. The key to the room was on the intable next to the bed, adjacent to an open music box that had eventually unwound and would not produce music until someone cranked its cog. Above the intable was the old clock, ticking away as if nothing was wrong. This was not the case, however. For on the bed, lied the bodies of Rudolph and Kyrie, recently deceased, to large, black stakes sticking into their rib cage, blood drizzling onto the sheets and their clothes. They were dressed as if sleeping, Rudolph wearing a light linen shirt and in his boxers, Kyrie in light shorts and a very loose blouse. The scene was grizzly, but odd, as Rudolph and Kyrie lay on the bed together, their hands held tight together.

Upon seeing the faces of both Battler and Krauss, Nanjo took a step forward," What's wrong..." The emphasis at the end of his question never came to fruition, he immediately took initiative and entered the room. This action was soon followed by Natsuhi, anxious to purvey the scene at a closer distance. They both rushed to opposite sides of the bed, careful not to brush the bodies, leaving the other men with slack jaws in the doorway. Nanjo closely examined the wounds and the eyes of both of the dead. He looked back at Krauss, both of their expressions having taken on an anxious calm, as if surveying the scene of a natural disaster," They died from the wounds, both the same way, I would guess. Several hours ago, that'd put their time of death right in the middle of the night." He pushed himself from his kneeling position on a shaky knee, exiting the room, as if his purpose in the matter had been fulfilled. On his way out, he clasped Battler's shoulder tightly, the young man unable to look away from the floor," They didn't bleed out, sun, despite how it may look, they probably didn't feel much." With that he exited the room, leaving the family members inside, going to inform the rest of the people in the house.

After a sufficient amount of time, the rest of the family, save Kinzo, had visited the hall outside the room. They all muttered goodbyes, more or less, before Krauss insisted they exit the room. He closed the door behind him, having to tug tightly once because of the damage he'd caused it. He muttered a few quick words to Natsuhi and Eva, who had taken charge of the now even more shaken Rosa, and proceeded to usher everyone into the lounge. After checking to make sure everyone was there, he stepped out. Eva proceeded to start up conversation between the remaining adults, while Natsuhi dialed the phone. After standing unmoving with the device to her ear for a few seconds, she grunted and hung it up with a clank. " Kinzo-sama is not answering," she said, eyes closed, to no one in particular as she turned to the rest of the room and took a spot in one of the unoccupied armchairs.

A few moments later, Krauss re-entered the room, followed by Eva, with Rosa in tow, getting up and approaching him. He had with him three Winchester rifles. Eva took one and immediately began checking it over, not once looking at Krauss, but seeming somewhat eager to have a means of protection as soon as possible. Krauss held one before Rosa, who after a moment, put her hands on it, looked up at Krauss and nodded. Her face seeming to win back a little determination that the Ushiromiya family was known for. Though his face was grim, Krauss showed some kind of brotherly sentiment as his sister took the gun. He then positioned the last firmly in his own hands. He took a deep breath, and announced to the room." Ok, everyone. As you all know, its become official that there is a murderer on this island. Its likely that the same person who killed Rudolph and Kyrie was responsible for the sudden deaths last night, we have to be careful. We need to be on our toes." He turned to his wife and began to ask," Did you tell Kin.." but stopped short as she shook her head. The frown on Krauss' face worsened, but beside that he did nothing in response.

Following that moment of excitement, nothing happened for the next hour or so. Rosa eventually regained some steadiness, no longer drooping her head, but never once letting go of her rifle. Battler now joined George in adjacent bleak silence. Krauss seemed to make sure that Natsuhi and Jessica were in arms reach at all times, the same as Eva with her husband, but allowing George a little more space. It was not surprising, that, as noon approached, it was Nanjo who eventually stood up. " We need to get some food, I suggest the children stay here." There was some kind of wise, knowledgeable edge to his voice, so it was not surprising that everyone somewhat agreed that acquiring food was a necessity if they were going to ride out the rough weather together in wait for the police.

" Three guns," Eva said to no one in particular," Means that only two groups can go out, one has to stay here." This rationale was unchallenged by everyone, and they eventually settled into the plan that the three youngest would stay in the room along with Nanjo and Natsuhi. The rest were going to go to the Guest house to retrieve the non perishable supplies kept there. They'd been gone for a two or three minutes, when Nanjo got up.

" If we're going to be doing this, we'll probably need the first aid kit." He said, stretching after having sat for the last couple of hours," I'll go get it, its only down the hall." Natsuhi began to object when Nanjo made a hushing sound," Don't worry, nothings going to happen, you'll be close by with a gun, after all." With that, he stepped up to the door, opened it, and took a right as he walked down the hall toward, presumably, the servant's area, a small room with a desk for writing that had extra towels, cleaning supplies, and, luckily, a first aid kit. Battler's eyes were already drooping when the door closed, and within seconds he was off to sleep.

He was shaken awake by Jessica, " Come on, they're back with the food." Battler pulled himself into a sitting position on the couch he'd been asleep on, and looked around. Eva, Krauss, Hideyoshi, and Rosa had all returned, carrying with them four cardboard boxes of food. They were in the middle of setting some of them out, boxes of rice, bottled water, and canned vegetables and meats. This went on for a few minutes, before the obvious question was raised.

" Hey, Natsuhi, where is Nanjo?" came the voice of Hideyoshi, who had risen from the box of food he'd been setting out and was surveying the room.

Natsuhi, who hadn't risen from her chair since Battler had awoken, lowered her head, and tightened her grip on the rifle with both hands, before responding," I... I don't know. After you guys left, he went for the first aid kit in the servant's supply room, but I haven't seen him since. That was... 40 minutes ago." This seemed to have a shocking effect on everyone, three or four people raised their voice to respond, but were cut off quickly.

"Why did you let him go?" The voice belonged to Krauss. It was racked with shock, worry, and a undertone of anger. Natsuhi did not respond, and within moments Krauss and Hideyoshi were at the door," We'll be back in a moment," he said, leaving the door mostly open as he, gun in hand, and Hideyoshi began to trump down the hall toward the supply room. Moments went by in silence, Eva throwing steady looks of depreciation at Natsuhi, while Rosa had a look of worry that was common with the rest of the room. It didn't take that long before Krauss' voice came booming down from outside the room," Everyone come here!" This started some, but in general consensus everyone got up and made their way toward the door.

The sight struck everyone as odd, as the rest of the group gathered around the door to the servant room. The medium sized door was metal, and was one of the more modern of its kind in the house. It would stand out, if it wasn't down a slightly out of the way hallway off by itself, a few yards from the large mainroom that it split off from. What was on the door, however, stood out even more. A chain was tightly wound around the two handles too the double doors, keeping them in place. Krauss wiggled it a bit, and was just able to get enough of his hand between the lock and the door knob to tell," The door's locked also." He sat there for a moment, this hand rubbing his chin, his worry momentarily on hold before the puzzle before him." Might as well make it simple," he said with a sigh," George, Battler, Hideyoshi, comeon we're going to break it down."

The men lined up in front of it, aware that there was just enough surface area on the door to fit a rush from all four of them, a look of doubt on Hideyoshi's face played by. But, within moments they had taken stance, and on a swift count and beat, rammed into to the door as one, backed up, and tried again. They got it on the third try, George falling to a knee in front of the other three men trying to rapidly decelerate. There was a slight amount of saw dust in the air, but it cleared rapidly, leaving the room to be viewed from the wide doorway by the other four women behind them.

Nanjo lay on his back in front of the couch that was in the center of considerably small room, George had landed only a few feet from one of his feet. Some cabinets were slightly askew, and a small breeze rolled in from the vent. The cushions on the couch were slightly roughed up, as if there had been some kind of wrestling going on there. The first aid kit Nanjo had gone out to get was only a few feet from an outstretched arm. The rug was slightly bunched up in places, making the shape of an odd S shaped swirl on the ground for the on lookers. The double doors, still tightly locked together by the pad lock and the door lock, had broken off the hinges and now lay beneath where George had become kneeled at. And worst of all, another stake, same in basic design as the ones from the last bodies, protruded from his head. There was also considerably more blood than last time. An odd little detail, though, topped it all off, for laying on moderately sized belly of the man, was a black key.

Both Battler and Hideyoshi rushed to the body almost on sight and both checked his pulse, but they might as well not have, the chill from the body gave all the necessary answer, but all the same, the lack of a heartbeat proved his death. The two of them sighed, and shook their head, forfeiting their affirmation to the rest of the group, and then, that's when the shit hit the fan, what had not risen tempers before, had begun to cause chaos, in that moment, almost everyone in the room took on, not a face of shock or sympathy, but of suspicion, and Eva, being the mean one in the family, most likely directly inherited from her father, was the first to start throwing blame.

It was a quick motion, almost immediate upon her husband's confirmation of the deceased's condition, her gun was pointed at Natsuhi's head, her eye on the sight even though she was point blank," You! It had to have been you, we we're all at the guest house! Your story about him leaving right after we left is probably bull as well."

George slowly put his hand on the top of the barrel of the rifle and firmly pushed it down toward the floor," Mother, calm down. I was there the whole time, what she said was the truth, and nobody left the room." This, surprisingly enough, had the desired effect. George was one of the only people Eva would have listened to once she'd gotten upset. This effect was short-lived, however, as within a breath of the gun going down, it swung back up again at a different target.

This time Krauss was the target of her anger," It had to have been him, then, if it wasn't Natsuhi." Her following statements caused, for the first time, long spaces of thought between the group as to the aspects of the killings," Once we got to the guest house, you unlocked the front door with that key, and then we split up inside. That's the master key right?" This question brought affirmation from Krauss in the manner of not actually producing a response," You got that from Genji, the head servant's body last night, you've had it with you since then. This door had to have been unlocked when Nanjo got here. You must have split off, come here, killed him. Then locked the door from outside and put that silly chain around it, then ran back and met us."

This time, her husband was the once to calm her, imitating his son by gently pushing the gun barrel down towards the floor. " There are a few holes in your logic, dear. It might have been possible for him to do that, but he still would have had to gather all the supplies he had when we all met up again, he wouldn't have had the time. Even assuming he would have been able to get all the food together, its physically impossible for what you have said to have happened." He pointed toward the key lying on the dead man's stomach." I'll bet you anything that that is the key to the chain lock that was on the door." He motioned to the younger boys, and Battler and George pushed the two doors vertical onto the wall beside them, and, using the black key, unlocked the padlock. The slightly heavy chain fell to the floor with a thud." I've seen that kind before at my company, its not like a normal padlock, you need the key to both lock and unlock it." This too, was demonstrated by Battler," He couldn't have left the key on the body, and then come out, because it wouldn't be possible for it to still be in the room. I'm not sure about everything else, but the way the door itself was built, it could've been locked from the inside, because it has one of those manual lock knobs."

Eva, more hesitant to point the gun at another person, developed a grimace on her face that shone true with rage," Well, who the heck do you think did it? We don't know who the killer is or how that stupid key got onto of Nanjo!" She seemed to be venting, and her husband waited for her tenseness to subside a little bit before replying.

" Listen, there's no way for us to know now, as for the killer, it could be someone we don't know about." He was obviously grasping at straws, trying to keep the overall atmosphere of the room calm. Although Eva was the only one who had lashed out, everyone had been looking anxious. Whatever was happening on the island, it was starting to get to the survivors, everyone was scared.

For a moment the room was quiet and still,despite the body heat had begun to warm up the small corner of the hallway. Krauss opened his mouth, perhaps to suggest they go back to the sitting room, when a small event beat him to the punch. Out of nowhere, the phone in the sitting room began to ring, the sound echoed down into the small hallway, clear enough for everyone. Natsuhi was the first to react, about to rush down the hall to get the phone, but Eva's hand shot out and grabbed her forearm. This was almost like a reflexive action, but for a still moment the two women bore holes into each other's heads with their stern stares. The phone ranging a second time when Krauss intervened,"Come on, look at our group, the only person that could be is Father. Stop acting like children." Eva shot a look at her older brother before releasing Natsuhi, who after a split second look at her husband, began to hurry down the hallway to the sitting room.

By the time the group had arrived at the sitting room, Natsuhi had leaned down to pick up the phone. Despite suspecting who was on the other end, she answered it with only a mildly polite ," Hello? " The phone lines had gone down during the storm the previous night, but calling throughout the house had remained, whoever was on the other end had to be inside the mansion.

There was brief pause, an unsettling moment before the old, wheezing voice of an in-pain Kinzo came through the line," Hello! Nat... Natsuhi! It's Kinzo, I need..." a loud coughing sound as if he was spitting something up came through the receiver. It sounded painful, and was loud enough for everyone in the room to make it out." I was attacked..." This statement was followed several more loud coughing sounds, and continued extensively.

Natsuhi exclaimed," Kinzo-sama?! Where are you? We're coming to help you!" Natsuhi yelled out repeated variations of those two statements while Kinzo's coughing fit continued, the rest of the group had migrated to a semi-circle around Natsuhi and the phone. No one said anything as they watched the spectacle of the exasperated Natsuhi, and they could all tell when the old man's coughing fit ended.

Kinzo wheezed one last time," I think I'm... in the freezer..." before there was the clanking sound of the other end of the phone hitting a metallic floor, and although it did not hang up, nothing came from the other end. Natsuhi's eyes widened for a moment, before she stood straight up and rushed through the group and out the door, heading toward the staircase that lead to the basement, the rest of the group stood stunned for a moment before Krauss' deep voice rumbled loudly once more.

" Come on we've got to stay together!" Although this was directed at the entire group, his eyes fell on Rosa who was closest to the door and thus Natsuhi, the two of them rushed for the doorway as well, with Krauss' voice ushering everyone else along ," Hurry up!" and within seconds everyone was out the door and running through the main room after Natsuhi, who hit the stairs and nearly flew down them. The rest of group reached the top as Natsuhi turned at the bottom and into the winecellar that doubled as a containment unit for the relatively new freezer. Rosa entered first, followed by Krauss and the rest of the bundle. Natsuhi was tugging at the large metal door to the freezer, her sister-in-law, the only one with the space, rushed forward and begun helping her, together, the two of them gained a little momentum and the heavy door glided open. When it did, the two of them rushed in. The dark cellar made it hard to see into the unlit freezer unit, but the sudden gasp from the two women within, sealed their minds as to the state of the mansion's master.

Krauss and Eva stepped into the metal doorway, with the others behind then peeking in. Natsuhi, her hand over her mouth, was struggling with tears while Rosa, on her knees beside Kinzo, was more liberally imitating a waterfall. Kinzo himself lay on his back, his limbs outstretched, bloody forming a pool under his body, with a wound in the center of his chest. In his left hand drooped the phone he'd been holding to make the call, its wire leading to a vary out of place phone cradle in the middle of the food filled freezer, another metal stake lay off to the side, half drenched in blood. From the looks of it, Kinzo must have pulled it out of himself at one point and bled out. Krauss opened and closed his mouth three or four times, and managed to get out a very obvious question," Is he...?" He didn't seem to be able to bring himself to finish it.

Natsuhi, her voice muffled slightly by her hand covering the lower half of her face, replied," Yes, she already checked." This seemed to be all she could bear, for immediately afterward, she too was crying out as well as Rosa, with the remainder of the family looking on in awe.

An hour later the family had taken up residence in the bar-room. It had been closer than the sitting room, and no one seemed to want to walk any farther than they had too with the wailing Rosa and Natsuhi in tow. After settling the two inside, the four men had traversed back to the sitting room, two guns in tow, and retrieved the food they had collected. By this point, everyone had eaten, and some were giving pathetic attempts at enjoying themselves by having drinks. The room had subtly divided itself into two groups, males and females. Eva and Jessica had taken seats on a couch flanking the two women, no longer crying but looking utterly miserable, whereas the men had taken seat across the room whereas to discuss the death without upsetting Rosa or Natsuhi a second time.

The four of them, George, Battler, Hideyoshi, and Krauss spoke in mild tones, not necessarily whispering, but making an attempt to not let their voices carry.

" Its official," Battler said, starting them off," Whoever is doing this is trying to **** with us, there would be no other reason for there to a phone in the freezer."

" Agreed," replied George, unhappy, but slightly eager to begin unwinding this mystery," Not only that, but whoever gave Maria that letter has to be the culprit. So far the epitaph has been followed to the letter."

"Not only that," continued Hideyoshi,"This proves that there is a nineteenth person on the island, we were all together for atleast fifteen minutes or so before we got that call. The killer must have dragged Kinzo in there while he was still awake."

"That must be the case," Krauss concurred," If he'd knocked him out, he most likely would have bled out and never woken up, Kinzo-sama must have called as soon as he saw the phone. Well.." he put a hand on his chin,"I guess perhaps not, the first thing I'd do in a situation like that is try to open the door, but that freezer locks from the outside and there's no way to get out without help."

"All things considered, it's a relief." Eva interjected, during the conversation she had made her may over and now stood behind the shoulders of George and Hideyoshi. Her eyes were hard pressed on Krauss, but there was less suspicion in them and more caution."That proves that I have no reason to suspect anyone of the death of father, but instead means that we have some phsychomaniac we didn't know about before hand to deal with." Her eyes remained on Kinzo, and he matched it, the strong wills they had both inherited from their father shown through.

With that, the decision to stay put and wait it out made itself. Kinzo was the last person they truly had to worry about, but that would get them no where as of now. There was no reason to visit the bodies, it would only give rise to depression and destroy moral, and leaving the crime scenes in mint condition was in their favor when the police arrived. And so they hunkered down and waited, everyone they cared for that was still on this island within sight.

This position stayed the same for an hour and a half, everyone except for Rosa, George, and Battler had a drink or two, and for the most part calmness had been achieved. To pass the time, cards had been dealt and everyone went along. Everyone except for Rosa and Natsuhi, of who it was unspoken were still to upset to be handed a firearm, had taken subtle turns watching the doorway to the room. Everyone had fallen into a cautious but calm state of mind, when something finally broke the norm.

Eva, gun in hand, stood up, taking the hand of her sister. Rosa had been mopey, but mostly quiet, and despite what you may say, it was obvious Eva was attempting to raise the spirits of her sister, the lowering tension in the room eventually telling her she could worry about the rest of her family, not just her son and husband. " Come on," she said," I need to use the restroom, you can wait outside the door." She thrust her rifle into the hands of her sister energetically and began to walk toward the door with Rosa in tow. Hideyoshi opened his mouth to comment, catching his wife's attention, but ended up coughing a bit, before he could recover, Eva responded," Don't worry, we'll be careful, it's just across the hall anyway." Hideyoshi cleared his throat and silently nodded to his wife as the two left the room, the door was left open, and everyone watched for a few seconds, before returning to the game.

Hideyoshi, oddly, kept coughing. It started out every dozen seconds or so, but eventually erupted into a coughing fit that went on and on between breathes. George was already giving his full attention, ignoring the game, when his father's coughs refused to cease. " Father, are you ok?" he said, concern in his voice, looking hesitantly back at the doorway, hoping his mother would return soon, he pat firmly against his father's back, but the coughing didn't cease. The card game halted itself as the Hideyoshi's hand slammed against the table, and then something scary happened. Hideyoshi's eyes widened, as coughs began to hack up blood. Within moments of the scarlet appearance, his hands were smothered in it. George gasped, and managed to yell out," Father!" before the panicked Hideyoshi pushed the table aside and ran for the door. George rushing after him, and throwing a panicked," Come on! " behind him at the other four before following him out the door.

A little ways down the hallway, Rosa saw the two men coming, obviously headed for the men's restroom. Her eyes went wide with panic as the older man slammed open the door to the men's restroom across from her, and George quickly entered as well. She yelled out," Eva hurry!" before entering the male restroom as well, to check on the other two. Battler, Natsuhi, Krauss, and Jessica were only at the doorway of the bar-room when Rosa entered the restroom, a trail Hideyoshi's blood leading from where they were standing to the bathroom's wooden door. They too, rushed to it as well. A muffled yell from Eva, still in the restroom, was audible to Battler, but they reached the door before Eva had exited. Natsuhi pushed open the door, and almost immediately screamed.

A cool wind hit the four of them in the doorway from the bathroom's open window. Laying on the floor, in some type of slight triangle, were three more bodies to add to the tally. Hideyoshi lay on his front, his face flat on the ground, with yet another metal stake protruding from right below his left rib cage. George lay on his side, his shoulder and head lolling on the legs of his father, a metal stake protruding from his thigh, his neck looked broken. The last, Rosa, lay on her front across George's legs, her head turned sideways, eye wide open staring with a dead fixation at the wall, another stake sticking out of the side of her boot, with bits of flesh creeping out around the mark. Beneath the three was a continuously enlarging pool of blood, which was also present splattered with hand marks against the sink and walls, a sign of some kind of struggle. Battler was behind the other three, staring past their shoulders at the most gorey thing he'd seen as of yet, and it made him almost sick. He turned, about to let his stomach loose, to see Eva staring at him. Her face turned into a mixture of confusion and fright at Battler's reaction.

" What?... No..." her breathing became quick and she shoved her way into the room without looking and was faced with the image before her. She sank to her knees, her breath loud and filled with adrenaline and she began to scream. It was an undignified scream of a beast and vengeful mother. The other four looked on for a brief moment, but had no chance to console or calm her before Eva flung herself into a wild rage. " KRAUSS!" she flung herself across the floor, pulling the Winchester from beneath Rosa's dead elbow and wildly fired toward the doorway. The bullet missed widely, but was enough to shock Krauss into action, he grabbed his wife and daughter's hands and began sprinting down the hall and into the main room, headed for the general direction of the door, leaving Battler gawking at the scene. Eva, evidently uninterested into her nephew and more enraged at her fleeing brother threw herself out the room, and, gun in hand, began to run after them, firing after turning the corner into main room.

Battler was completely awestruck and managed to get out ," Aunt Eva, stop it!" but the sound was drowned out by her aunt's persistent screaming. Faced with no other option, he chased after her, skidding into the main room as Krauss and his family, for as they should be now called, seeing as how Eva was out for blood, exited to the rose garden outside the house, pulling the heavy wooden door closed behind them. Eva nearly slammed into it as it closed, barely skidding to controllable speeds as she began trying to yank the door open, but it was obvious that Krauss was holding it forcibly closed from the outside, as it would open a touch and then slam into frame once more, given no chance to be locked. During this tug of war Battler caught up and stood several feet behind the last remainders of his family as Eva eventually gave up on the door and instead chose a new medium of exit. She hustled over to the window a yard down the wall, and broke it mostly open with the butt of her rifle. She did this, took aim through the opening, but a split second before her gun went off, Battler watched as a spout of blood sprayed forth from her forehead, the sound of another banging against his eardrums in parallel to it, and her body fell limply to the floor. Battler's eyes went wide as he rushed to her side, " AUNT EVA!" he yelled, tears beginning to form as the chaos around him took his aunt from this world before his very eyes, he shook her," EVA! EVA! EVA!" and he leaned down and cried for the first time, but it seemed the curse of Ronove was as merciless as it let on to be, for a few breaths later, the death screams of Krauss, Natsuhi, and Jessica, could be heard outside. This sound broke through to his sorrowful mind, and he looked out toward the rose garden through the broken window.

He saw a bright orange flower of flame, two and half yards high engulf a large section of two adjacent rows of roses and between them stood, or should it be called dissolving, the melting silhouette of his last three family members. Battler had never seen such large or bright a fire, and his eyes were caught in an illusion of fantasy and awe, for a moment he saw himself in the flames, surrounded by the life giving and taking fire, a land of gold... as he slowly watched his family burn.

And then his sight went black, and the last thing Battler ever felt was a metal stake plunging through his back and piercing his heart.

* * *

Feel free to post who you thought did it when you review it. I'll write second part, when I get around to it... if I do.

Thanks for reading.


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